When he was just five years old Floriaan Wempe asked his parents for albums by Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. He could only take up the saxophone himself once he had lost his milk teeth at the age of nine. Things have really taken off for him since then. Among other things, he played in a band of Robert Veen and performed with the group at the North Sea Jazz Festival at a young age. Wempe has won various jazz awards and last year, aged twenty-two, he recorded his debut album for Challenge Records. On Flo's Flow Wempe plays with pianist Karel Boehlee, bassist Jos Machtel and American drummer Willie Jones III who is also appearing at the festival with his own band. Wempe's lyrical and energetic sound moves across a great many genres, from ballads to high-energy numbers, and from funk and Latin to swinging neo-bop.
